If you go to health shows, you’ll likely see one or more vendors selling detox footbaths. I hang my head in sorrow when I see these and shake my head for every fool I see buying one. Most are multi-level marketed and some cost upwards of $2,000, for nothing more than a battery rigged to pass a current through salt water.
You might have seen a demonstration in which somebody whips off their shoes and socks and puts their feet into the water; switch on and pass a current and… Hey presto! The water turns brown with all the nasty toxins that have been “drawn out” of the body, as if by magic.
The customer feels great. It really worked!! The would-be vendor assures the gullible customer that the water discoloration is caused by “toxins” and that these disgusting chemicals came from inside his or her own body.
What’s a thousand dollars for a machine that works like this, by magic? And why haven’t doctors been prescribing these? Why does it always have to be ingenious alternative practitioners who make these amazing scientific breakthroughs?
It’s a fraud, of course. I was just being sarcastic. There are two problems with this “demonstration”. Firstly, if you pass a current through the water without anyone dipping their body parts into it, the water still turns brown! It’s electrolytes and organic matter precipitating out that causes the discoloration. It doesn’t happen if only distilled water is used (don’t test it with bottled water, that’s full of organics).
As for feeling good and “detoxed”, I reckon anyone wandering around a show who gets a chance to take off their shoes and socks and plunge them into soothing warm water is going to feel better.
Try it at home, when you get back after a hard days work! Just slip your feet into a footbath and feel relaxed. It’s wonderful and doesn’t cost a dime! Add some magnesium sulfate (Epsom salts) for an even better effect.